BackFuture

With SaaStock officially over after three days of connections created and reignited - it's no better time to make our own announcement. We've given ourselves a new facelift and launched our new website! On the site you'll be able to learn about the BackFuture community, from our backers and portfolio companies - with some content on the way. Check us out at BackFuture.vc

Excited to finally announce our investment in Singulate, founded by Dave Schools, Nicolas Klein, and John O'Gara. The early Hopin team (#1, #4, #30 are cofounders) is exiting stealth today, with a $2.3m pre-seed round and a waitlist of 800+. The team is back together to solve the biggest problem they saw in events and marketing at Hopin. They’re building a next gen AI marketing platform called Singulate. Singulate provides the easiest way to do audience segmentation and better relevance-personalization for individuals at scale — results of up to 10X higher CTRs and 5X response rates. They’re helping marketers (in demand gen, growth, community/events) nurture and convert more pipeline from their events and existing customers - it’s not an AI cold outreach sales tool (although it can do reactivations) but rather a lifecycle growth marketing tool. They’re calling it the future of large-scale communication. In supporting the team, we're joining Bowery Capital and Seedcamp, along with some star-studded angels!

This year BackFuture will once again be investing in the SaaStock Pitch Competition Winner - but this time we've brought friends. The startup of the 100 that comes out as #1 will win up to €500k from BackFuture, Quadri Ventures, 2100 Ventures, Startup Wise Guys, Beacon Capital, Pearls Capital, and Venteri Capital. Interested in learning more? Click below: https://lnkd.in/gJ49ZN5V

Do you have what it takes to claim the Iron Throne of SaaS innovation? 🐉⚔️ Our #GlobalPitchCompetition is calling all B2B SaaS startups to prove they're not just dreamers, but dragons in the making. Open to companies with less than 35 employees and up to $1.5M ARR, this is your chance to breathe fire into your fundraising efforts. Here's what you need to know: 🔥 Multi-stage competition: From Startup Day pitches to live finals at #SaaStock2024 🔥 Influential audience: Top VCs, funds, and the wider SaaS community 🔥 Grand Prize: A realm-changing €500,000 investment package Why should you join?  👑 Secure game-changing investment (dragon eggs not included)  👑 Get noticed by the top VCs and funds 👑 Generate brand awareness and position your business as one-to-watch  👑 Be seen by early customers and validate your product-market fit Apply today for a chance to win the 2024 crown: https://buff.ly/4fBbxka With thanks to our VC Partners 2100 Ventures, BackFuture, Beacon Capital Partners, Pearls Capital, Quadri Ventures, Startup Wise Guys and Venteri Capital, and our Launch Partners HSBC Innovation Banking, Landscape, Mountside Ventures ❤️ ** Applications close 11 September and successful applications will be notified by 18 September. Participants must be actively fundraising. Prize T&Cs available on our website. #SaaS #SaaSstartup #pitch #VCFunding #SaaSGrowth #HouseofTheDragon #HOTD #tech #founders #investment #grandprize

After over a year and a half of partnership, we're going public with our backing of the SaaStock Pitch Competition - this time in Dublin! Since BackFuture's inception, we've backed the winners of the pitch competition with €200k. This time around, we've brought on partners to make this the biggest yet in terms of reach and prize of up to €500k! 💸 Big thanks to our VC Partners:  2100 Ventures, Beacon Capital, Pearls Capital, Quadri Ventures, Startup Wise Guys and Venteri Capital. 🚀 Also a very special thanks to our Launch Partners: HSBC Innovation Banking, Landscape, and Mountside Ventures. Secure your place in the Pitch Competition below: https://lnkd.in/gJ49ZN5V

Entrepreneurship, like life, is never linear. Success plays out out differently - along varied timelines. That's why when Eoin Bara of Tipple signed five billion dollar companies as customers in the first year, everyone took notice. In a conversation with Alexander Theuma on the SaaStock "SaaS Revolution" podcast, Eoin shares: 🛣 Starting out as a UX designer, running a gin brand, to starting Tipple 🏆 Winning the 2023 SaaStock Pitch Competition and how that affected his Seed raise 💸 Signing billion dollar enterprises and running a multi-market business Hear about this and more below:

Joining a founder and startup on their journey is about more than just financial transactions, metrics, and hopeful exits. It’s about being part of the vibrant culture they create. This past weekend, we had the privilege of marching with Ben Towers and the Happl team at the Pride parade. Seeing the great work we do together is rewarding, but celebrating inclusion and diversity as a united front is truly inspiring. Proud to support and be a part of this incredible team!

We've been sitting on this for a while, but incredibly happy to announce our investment in Tipple! Tipple provides end-to-end infrastructure to alcohol brands, allowing them to sell B2B & D2C - while providing insights into customer habits. So far, they've helped their customers sell products 5x faster and 10x cheaper. What really made a difference in our decision was the co-founding team - Eoin, Laura, and Jamie. Collectively, they've built digital infrastructure and ran their own alcohol brand, which put them at the center of this $2 Trillion market problem. BackFuture is joined by Quadri Ventures, 7percent Ventures, Form Ventures, Broadstone and angel investors. Witnessing Eoin's exceptional win at the SaaStock Dublin's 2023 Pitch competition, combined with the above factors made Tiple an exceptional opportunity. Excited to be a part of the journey 🚀

Last night we had the pleasure of celebrating the announcement of Zendesk's CVC arm, led by Terry Evans Jr., with support from Jeremy Ambrose. Witnessing the culmination of 3 years of work is energizing, particularly for an emerging fund like our own - and the work only starts from there. Looking forward to seeing more from Zendesk Ventures and working with them in the future! We're fortunate to have had Kenneth Thomas and portfolio founders Samuel Akinwunmi of Bilanc (YC W24) & Ben Towers of Happl representing us.

I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as General Partner at BackFuture! The Move into Venture Capital has been calling for some time and I answered. I started Angel Investing in 2020 and having seen some of the best companies and founders go from Seed to Unicorn since 2016, understood there was a natural evolution and role to play that would complement what we have been building with SaaStock, helping SaaS companies connect and thrive through our community and events. I'm still operational at SaaStock as CEO. And on both sides, I have a great team at SaaStock that enables me to be a VC and I'm working with Kenneth Kashif Thomas on BackFuture that enables me to fulfil my duties to the SaaStock team and community to enable our vision. Thanks to the 48 LPs that have joined BackFuture to date and the 6 founders we've backed early on in our journey. More on the news in this article in Sifted https://lnkd.in/eiNBAQMQ #backfuture #saastock #saas #Venturecapital